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CRAINS 20160404-NEWS--0001-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 4/1/2016 6:53 PM Page 1 MTA keeps 10th Avenue station hopes alive P. 7 | Is eminent domain imminent? P. 9 | The Big Cheese of Bleecker Street P. 12 ® APRIL 4-10, 2016 | PRICE $3.00 NEW YORK BUSINESS the end of THE END OF WELFARE AS WE KNOW IT PAGE 14 VOL. XXXII, NO. 14 WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM 14 5 NEWSPAPER 71486 01068 0 chill Element Hotels Productivity can’t be achieved without balance. That’s why we go beyond business tools to offer our guests what they need to stay whole, like bikes to borrow, spaces fl ooded with daylight, Relax evening wine receptions, healthy grab ‘n go meals and more. Discover the essentials of balanced travel. Space to live your life Element New York Times Square West Book now at elementhotels.com Chandler, AZ ● Denver, CO ● Miami, FL ● Boston, MA ● Lexington, MA ● Hanover, MD ● Bozeman, MT ● Fargo, ND Omaha, NE ● Lebanon, NH ● Ewing, NJ ● Harrison/Newark, NJ ● Las Vegas Summerlin, NV ● New York, NY Dallas, TX ● Houston, TX ● Calgary, CAN ● Edmonton, CAN ● Vancouver, CAN ● Vaughan, CAN ● Suzhou, CHN ● Frankfurt, DEU Amsterdam, NLD © 2016 Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Preferred Guest, SPG, Element and their logos are the trademarks of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., or its affi liates. 20160404-NEWS--0003-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 4/1/2016 6:38 PM Page 1 APRILCRAINS 4-10, 2016 FROM THE NEWSROOM | JEREMY SMERD Lights, camera, action! IN THIS ISSUE 4 AGENDA WEST SIDE STORY is a classic New York tale spun by 5 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT quintessential New Yorkers. But when Leonard Bernstein 6 WHO OWNS THE BLOCK and Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway hit became a movie, it 7 TRANSPORTATION came to exist as a piece of New York in name only as much of The great boom 8 ASKED & ANSWERED in retail jobs the film was shot at Samuel Goldwyn Studios in California. comes to an end. 9 REAL ESTATE What went In the 20th century, Hollywood beckoned New York’s wrong? 10 creative class, while Broadway endured because there is no VIEWPOINTS real substitute for live theater. Those who left for L.A. never 11 THE LIST ceased to draw on Gotham’s gritty FEATURES streetscape, but if they returned it was to film an exterior. We’re launching In 2004, New York, like other states, started offering a 12 FOOD film tax credit to resuscitate the industry. Though similar Crain’s Entertainment 14 COVER STORY credits have been criticized as giveaways with little to cover—without fear or 20 GOTHAM GIGS economic benefit, New York’s quickly proved to be the favor—the business of 21 SNAPS exception. That’s because the city always has had the talent 22 FOR THE RECORD and moviemaking infrastructure; it just didn’t have the Broadway, film and TV economic edge. Now it does, and the industry is booming. 23 PHOTO FINISH Film and television employment has climbed more than 53% since 2004, and economic activity generated annually is nearly $9 billion, up from $4.6 billion a dozen years ago. Most New Yorkers see the industry only when a shoot on their block forces them out of their way as they try to get home. But that tension is overblown. Out of a quarter-million complaint calls to 311 in February, only 52 were related to filming. That’s why we’ve decided to shine a spotlight on the industry by launching a weekly newsletter. Crain’s Entertainment will cover—without fear or favor— the people, companies, politics and policies behind the lights, camera and P. 21 action. Crain’s Entertainment will focus on the organizations that fuel film, television and Broadway productions and the many businesses and communities in the five boroughs touched by them. To sign up for it, go to CrainsNewYork.com/entertainment. Reporter Addie Morfoot will lead our efforts. She joins us having covered the industry for a dozen years for Variety, The New York Times Magazine and The Wall Street Journal. Crain’s Entertainment will no doubt unearth great stories, insight and actionable information. It also will offer valuable context for the complex policy and heated political debates that will no doubt occur, especially when the state’s film tax credit comes up for renewal in 2019, and CEOs like Hal Rosenbluth of Kaufman Astoria Studios make their pitch for extending it. “This industry is diversifying the INSIDE P.12 economy … promoting tourism and generating 130,000 jobs,” he said. “This PHOTO: BUCK ENNIS industry is one of the pillars of the city.” Crain’s will be there to cover it. DIGITAL DISPATCHES CONFERENCE CALLOUT MAY 2 Go to CrainsNewYork.com CRAIN’S REAL ESTATE READ Time Inc. sold This Old House to Eric CONFERENCE Thorkilsen, the executive who created the home-renovation media brand. Thorkilsen part- Join Sen. Charles Schumer, nered with New York-based private-equity fund Related Cos. Chairman Stephen Ross TZP Growth Partners. (pictured), former Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff and others for a discussion ■ A federal judge of the key issues facing the building overturned a govern- industry, including the future of the ment decision to 421-a tax break and Penn Station. classify MetLife > SHERATON NEW YORK as a “systematically TIMES SQUARE important financial institution,” meaning 8 a.m. to noon the firm is exempt [email protected] from the “too big to fail” rules that regu- Vol. XXXII, No. 14, April 4, 2016—Crain’s New York Business (ISSN 8756-789X) is published weekly, except for double issues late giant banks. the weeks of June 27, July 11, July 25, Aug. 8, Aug. 22 and Dec. 19, by Crain Communications Inc., 685 Third Ave., New ■ York, NY 10017. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes Congratulations to Crain’s reporter Aaron to: Crain’s New York Business, Circulation Department, 1155 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, MI 48207-2912. Elstein, whose “Dark Times for Diners” story For subscriber service: Call (877) 824-9379. Fax (313) 446-6777. $3.00 a copy, $99.95 one year, $179.95 two years. won the Jesse H. Neal Award for Best Article. (GST No. 13676-0444-RT) BUCK ENNIS ©Entire contents copyright 2016 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved. APRIL 4, 2016 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 3 20160404-NEWS--0004-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 4/1/2016 6:38 PM Page 1 AGENDAWHAT’S NEW APRIL 4, 2016 New York is the best city in the world, no matter what the surveys say ew York, according to the latest U.S. News & World Report ranking, is the 96th best big city in the U.S. The New York Post’s take on the list was “Get the hell out of NYC while you can.” Funny thing is, more people are trying to get into Nthe city than ever. The five boroughs last year were home to 8.55 million people, accord- ing to census data released last month. The 0.6% increase from 2014 continued a long run of annual gains. It raises the question: If New York WORSE THAN THIS? City’s quality of life is so low, why do so many people want to be here? Bakersfield, The premise of the question, of course, is false, because the ranking’s Calif., ranked methodology is arbitrary and contradictory. High housing costs drove 95th, one spot ahead down the city’s score, but housing is expensive largely because it’s in of the city. high demand. If the quality of life were terrible, people would be leaving and property values would fall. Remember the 1970s? Forget the rank- on students’ college readiness without accounting for demographics. ings—Americans are voting with their feet. New Yorkers also grade harshly on customer satisfaction surveys. That Aspects of New York City living that would lift its rankings were hurts the city’s happiness index metric—a piece of the total ranking. New missing from the list’s methodology. Parents Yorkers are probably happier than, say, North here spend a lot less time schlepping their kids If the quality of life were so Dakotans, but are loath to admit it. Perhaps around because young people can walk, bike or we’re only happy when we’re complaining. take mass transit by themselves, but that count- terrible, people would be However flawed the U.S. News formula may ed for nothing. Instead, U.S. News dinged the leaving and property values be, the city should strive to improve on some of city for its average 40-minute commute, ignor- would be falling. They’re not its metrics. We should lift college readiness. ing the benefits of getting to work without driv- We’re the safest big city in America, but crime ing. The fact that New Yorkers can get by with- rates on par with the list’s smaller municipalities out a car—saving about $7,000 annually on transportation—also was not would be better. Utility costs are high partly because our underground factored in. Indeed, proximity to transit hurt the city’s score because infrastructure is expensive to maintain, but they could be lower. And we housing near train lines costs more, all else being equal. And nothing could certainly build more housing. Still, any list that ranks New York measured immigrants’ opportunity to thrive, a New York hallmark. 96th among cities, well behind places whose residents would love to Our schools got low marks from U.S. News because they were judged move here, is flawed by definition.